March 26, 2016

World Culture Fiasco

I've written an objective piece on the same topic titled The Yamuna, a song, and a dance for India Water Portal. Be warned: The post below is more of a rant but with research, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. :)

So take your pick on which one you read, but I urge you to read at least one of them. The situation revolving around the Yamuna and many other wetlands/floodplains in India is dire. It needs understanding before action.

Maybe
it should've been called World Culture Fiasco. That name somehow
seems more apt given the way events have unfolded since news of the
Art of Living Foundation's (AOL) mega event broke in December thanks
to Manoj
Misra, an environmental activist and convenor
of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan.

Enough
has been written
and shown
about how the Foundation went about getting permissions, flouting
guidelines and abusing their political (and spiritual) clout in order
to make the event happen despite the National Green Tribunal fining
it Rs. 5 crore—a sum that was supposed to be paid up before March
11, the first day of the event, but which is still pending.

I
have to confess that my interest in the event came about only a few
days after the event ended. An old friend was part of a German
contingent at the World Culture Festival (WCF) and posted pictures on
Facebook. She had praised most things about it including how well it
was organised and how fantastic the arrangements were—contrary
to what a participant from India had stated. True, it's one person's
opinion. Call me cynical, but I'm fairly certain that this one wasn't
the exception. But I digress.

“What
are your thoughts on the environmental damage this has caused”, I
asked and was met with a reply that was astounding in its simplicity.
“Actually, it hasn't caused any damage as yet. People are
speculating that the changes to the floodplains 'will' cause a
problem in future. As a person who has witnessed the event in person
rather than read it in the media, I believe the banks of the Yamuna
will be left cleaner than found. The event has already drawn
attention to how dirty the river was. Hopefully the cleaning will
start soon.”

We
traded a few comments back and forth on what construction on any
floodplain could do, the resulting damage similar to what happened in
Chennai
last December (since we were both from Chennai,
I felt compelled to put it in perspective), biodiversity and ecology
of the region and so on. After a few exchanges, it became evident to
me that these weren't issues that an average citizen—much less AOL
followers—would be interested in engaging on. The constant refrain
was that the AOL was an eco-friendly organisation with environmental
consciousness built into everything it did, and that it wouldn't do
anything to harm a river.

In
fact, cleaning the river was a big part of the exchange we had—since
2010, AOL
volunteers have cleaned the Yamuna itself with
Sri Sri asserting that “we will turn it into a beautiful
biodiversity park once we are finished with it.” I am not a water
sector expert but one only has to read up recent news—and not even
research papers or anything technical—to understand why cleaning
is not the point of contention here. It is the
extent of the damage to the floodplain, something which can't be
estimated overnight because it is different from counting the kilos
of trash removed from the river.

Newsflash!
Remember the Chennai
floods? Yes, those buildings on the marshlands
in Chennai were permanent structures while the WCF-related structures
were temporary, but a fair bit of tampering has been done on the
ground to aid
their construction. Now, a week after the
event, volunteers
are cleaning up, and that's supposed to assuage
everyone's concern!

Maybe
AOL followers—even those from around the world—feel unfairly
criticised because it isn't uncommon in India to flout the law, get
away with it, and repeat. This event being allowed is as much the
fault of the various government authorities in Delhi as it is of the
National Green Tribunal. The DDA granted permission as late as
November 2015 because the Foundation had said that it would be
difficult
to cancel as too much had been planned already.

“Explaining
why permission was granted for the festival, the official said, “In
the past, DDA might not have given permission for events on the river
bank but an exception was made in this case as it is an event for
cultural emancipation and involves yoga and music. This event is
spiritual in nature and permissions for such events are usually
granted.” If that's not a poor precedent to set, the NGT
judgement went ahead and did just that by
saying that money can buy one anything including a 'get out of jail
card for free' (or 5 crores in this case) when found guilty.

So
yeah, there are a lot of people to blame but my biggest peeve with
those supporting this event so staunchly is their blind belief in
whatever the Foundation states as being done to 'save' the Yamuna.
That, and statements that the Yamuna will finally get the attention
it deserves so that it can be cleaned and restored to its original
state. Environmentalists,
activists,
those whose lives depend on the river, and many
more have been working tirelessly on this issue
for years to no avail. The arrogance of the Foundation to think that
a cultural event showing off its clout in all spheres will make the
difference is staggering.

But
who knows. Just like the wondrous
rainbow that appeared on the first day of the
event due to an act of God (and not due to the meteorological
phenomenon that even first graders understand), maybe some
intervention—divine or political—might actually make the Yamuna
pristine once again, if only to save face.